I'd say my #1 suggestion for a listener wanting to get into jazz would be the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out, particularly the pieces 'Take Five', 'Blue Rondo à la Turk', and 'Strange Meadow Lark'. The reason why I say this is that it's not only a fantastic record in and of itself, but also that it's probably the jazz that appeals most to listeners of genres with more conventional structures. The pieces all have very recognisable melodies and precise structures, without too much improvisation, and without being too long, as these were things which initially put me off jazz before I got used to them.

That said, it's important to remember that Brubeck was well aware of the fact that a lot of his success and acclaim at the time was due to the fact that he was white, as black performers at the time were routinely ignored by critics who would lavishly praise white musicians for replicating their innovations months later. This also applies to rock and roll, as well as hip hop. Here's a great article that helps explain it.

After Time Out, you could go in any number of directions. There are so many different eras of jazz that I think the best thing to do is find releases that represent the best of each era. Most people start off with modal jazz, which is a smoother, subtler form of the music wherein players abandoned chord-based pieces and instead improvised within a given mood. Modal jazz is home to some of jazz's most expressive and beautiful playing. I'd go with Miles' Kind of Blue to start with (be sure to also check out the non-album track 'Stella By Starlight' too, a personal favourite), and after that I'd check out Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else. Bill Evans also has an excellent discograph, I'd recommend practically anything he ever did, particularly albums like Undercurrent and Waltz for Debby. Wes Montgomery is arguably the premier jazz guitarist of this period, and his Incredible Jazz Guitar is a very enjoyable listen.

Spiritual jazz (which often crosses over with free jazz) is another big and interesting branch of the genre. Its most well known purveyor is of course Mr John Coltrane, a legend in the jazz community. For him, there are countless great albums, with my personal favourites including A Love Supreme, First Meditations, Ole Coltrane, Ballads, Coltrane's Sound, Giant Steps, Lush Life, Live at the Village Vanguard, Concert in Japan and his collaborations with other artists, such as Duke Ellington, Milt Jackson and Kenny Burrell. Alice Coltrane, an excellent performer and Trane's second wife, has a lot of great music to her name as well, particularly 1970's Journey in Satchidananda.

If you're interested in bebop (a faster, chord-based style of jazz that was popular in the 40s and noted for its instrumental virtuosity), then I'd check out any compilation of Charlie 'Bird' Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. As for the fusion period, again I'd say Miles' work is a pretty good touchstone for the period, with notable other contributions including Frank Zappa's Hot Rats, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Chick Corea's Return to Forever.

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1 April 20202.20pm

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Thank you all, for the jazzy suggestions and I have plenty of time in quarantine to listen to them! I appreciate it!

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1 April 20202.24pm

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This is my favorite jazz album:

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1 April 20202.58pm

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Lmao. Yes, of course, Fiddy-- I'll add that to my list of jazz to listen to, as well

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1 April 20205.09pm

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In other news:

I walked outside today to find out that I hadn't noticed that flowers were blooming!

It was quite a lovely surprise!

I completely failed to remember that it is springtime! I was so focused on quarantine that I failed to notice nature blossoming around my house, smh

Also, coincidentally, Mother Nature's Son
was playing in my ear buds when I walked outside-- it was all quite lovely!

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1 April 20206.14pm

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I am working from home which has been a weird adjustment. I leave the house to go to the supermarket to get the essentials. Caught up with some much needed housework last weekend and trying to be productive.

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2 April 20202.09am

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I'm probably getting more work done via working at home than I did at the office. I thrive in isolation.

I walked outside today to find out that I hadn't noticed that flowers were blooming!

It was quite a lovely surprise!

Same here. I went to water the plants yesterday and I found a dozen or so really tiny pink (pink?) flowers blooming all over my backyard. Since the grass hasn't been cut I guess they just appeared. Which is crazy because I didn't even know pink flowers would bloom on the mere grass if I waited long enough. Nothing is real indeed.

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2 April 20209.54am

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I just took an online quiz for the first time and it was for Pre-Calc, which I'm usually really good at, and I must have been thrown off by the online format or something because I got my score and I got a 55%. I understand the content and everything so I don't know what the hell I did wrong*I'm going to go cry now.....

*Edit: So yeah I rechecked my work and I made the stupidest math mistakes on earth and I'm still massively disappointed with myself. I'm going to have to watch an episode of Frasier to get this out of my system.....

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2 April 202010.18am

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My older brother's work timetable is being limited to prevent illness among him and his coworkers. So, he's only in the office 2 or 3 days a week. To keep him busy, I've enrolled him on a criminal psychological course, where a mock trial is being held and the first thing he said when he saw the first video was "oooh I don't like the look of that man!".

3/10 for a man you'd want to be on the jury during your trial

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2 April 202011.50am

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^punish him with an Italian ham to the face.

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50yearslate said
^punish him with an Italian ham to the face.

That ham is expensive! He can have the cheap supermarket ham.

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2 April 20201.18pm

50yearslate

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The ham's origin really doesn't matter as long as it makes an effective projectile.

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2 April 20203.03pm

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Seeing as the Doctor Who thread is permanently closed.

Some happy news, my neighbour recently bought a real Dalek and K9 model from the '70's. When all this craic is over, I'll go over and ask him can I take a picture of them.

I do love K9 so for him not to be talking would make me sad but I do want to pet genuine K9.

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2 April 20205.44pm

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William Shears Campbell said

AppleScruffJunior said

Seeing as the Doctor Who thread is permanently closed.

Why was it permanently closed?

It, and many other threads, was closed in an effort to rebalance the forum towards more Beatles discussion as it was felt by the mods for a long period of time that the Beatles content was getting lost in amongst all the other discussions. It was something we discussed for a long period of time and had many conversations over but the forum is a Beatles forum and whilst we are more than happy for non-related discussions, we have to ensure the heart of the forum is not lost. It was not an easy decision to make.

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2 April 20206.06pm

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I weep every night over that decision. I also never got my suggested replacement thread which was 'Picture Yourself At The Pictures: A Film and TV Thread' (I just came up with that title right now, pretty proud of it).

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